Hard to tell what's what after first day of play, but ISU red is looking pretty smart with a sweep of UCSB in Waco. Bears had all they could handle with App St and move on to NC State, taking on Kansas and NC State. UNI plays Mizzou today, maybe best match to see among Valley teams, with preseason 29 vs 19. Hate losing the Shocks, just for competitive juice and caliber of play. Don't think they did themselves any favors in VB by changing conference.

Bottom feeders in Valley from last year look like they have improved, going off of just this first day of play. That's a good thing, of course. From what I've seen, I'd rank the top 3 in Valley like this: UNI, Illinois St, MSU.

VB 2017

I agree, it is tough to tell how teams are after just the first weekend.The bottom-feeders often rack up some wins in the non-conference, but those W's are often against the bottom feeders of lesser conferences (250+ ranking out of the 334-ish teams in D-I),while the conference contenders often schedule tougher challenges (top 50 teams and the like)

UNI had a good opening weekend, beating a #19 ranked Mizzou squad (although the Tigers were missing a starter who went down with an injury in the prior game) as well as getting W's in their other two matches. But the Panthers face quite the gauntlet this next weekend, squaring off against 3 top-20 teams.

Similarly, Illinois State and especially Missouri State have set up very challenging non-conference slates, so their WL records may have a few dings in them, but they will likely be playing at a higher caliber than those with softer schedules once conference play rolls around.